Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule, #2)(24)
“The Kezel know we’re here,” he said. “We’ve been invited to a feast. Chief Ghallan is entertaining a rival leader and wants to impress the man with his association with us. If we’re to get there in time we have to leave now.”
Baluka grinned. “Come on. My parents’ wagon will go first and you’ll want to ride in it. The road to Zun is always a mess. It’s not a long journey, though… I hope you don’t get wagon sickness.” Which was like sailing sickness, Rielle saw in his mind. All the passengers on the ship to Schpeta had been ill from it, including herself–a memory that hadn’t faded in five years. She could only hope wagon sickness wasn’t as bad.
Following him to the wagon, she stopped as she realised the stairs were gone, leaving only a single step below the doorway. Before she could consider how she was going to climb up gracefully, hands grasped her by the waist and lifted. A yelp of surprise escaped her.
“Knees up,” Baluka said, amusement radiating from him.
The step was at the level of her thighs now. Somehow she swung her feet up onto it, grasped the sides of the doorway and hauled herself inside. Though his hands were no longer on her waist she could still feel the pressure of them. She wasn’t sure if she ought to be annoyed at being handled like a piece of baggage or grateful for his help. Then the wagon lurched and she was scrabbling for a handhold. The door frame met her palm and she gripped it, managing to stay upright. Outside, Ankari was holding one of the lom’s head straps, leading it forward. The cart was rolling over the uneven ground towards a gap in the trees.
Baluka and Lejikh walked before the wagon. Vines filled the space between the trees, but as the pair neared, the plants seemed to shrink away from them, leaving bare, dark earth. She looked for Stain around them, but the rocking of the wagon made it hard to focus that closely. Still, it must be a world with plenty of magic or the Stain would be obvious.
Once the wagon reached the cleared area it stopped rocking. Ankari let go of the lom’s head strap and, with a nimbleness that Rielle hoped she’d enjoy at the woman’s age, hoisted herself up onto the wagon, twisting so she landed sitting face-out on the wagon doorstep. She glanced back and up at Rielle and smiled, then pointed first at one of the squat chairs inside, then at her eyes and at the nearest window. Nodding, Rielle moved the chair close to an opening and sat down.
The forest passed by slowly. After a while she began to notice smaller details. Little creatures with pincers and shiny wings glided between the trees. Colourful growths fanned out from the bark. Vines stretched and twined upwards, using the trees as a support and sometimes forming a net between them.
Beyond Ankari and the doorway a more even green appeared ahead of the road, murky in the twilight. The trees ended abruptly and the view through the window changed to cultivated hills on either side. Ankari stood up to allow Baluka to climb up through the doorway, then handed the reins to Lejikh as he settled on the step. Baluka moved to the edge of the bed, while his mother settled in the other chair.
Seeing people outside the window, Rielle turned to see what they were like. The fields were being worked by a scattering of bent figures. The locals were as pale as Schpetans but most had curly hair cropped at the shoulders and all the men were bearded. They were small in stature. One straightened to stretch her back, revealing thin arms and sunken cheeks. She scowled as she saw the wagons, then bent back to her work.
Surprised, Rielle looked closer, seeking minds. Most were curious, she sensed, but they did not see themselves ever having dealings with the Travellers.
… don’t get this finished we’ll have nothing after paying the tithe to get us through the dry…
… now the chief will use the money from the harvest to buy more useless pretty things from those Travellers rather than feeding his people…
… she’s always complaining that she’s hungry. That the chief of her homeland fed his people better. Well, she didn’t have to marry me. I suppose once she’s had the child…
Rielle shook her head. These people were hungry and tired. They had no choice but to work for the chief. They regarded themselves as the man’s possessions. Are they slaves? She turned away and found Ankari watching her. The woman’s expression was grim, and she spoke quietly to Baluka. He turned to Rielle.
“Most people don’t like knowing their minds can be read,” he told her. “We have an agreement here that no Traveller will read anyone’s mind without permission from the chief. You’re a guest and not bound by the same promise, but it would be better for all of us if you didn’t do so either.”
Her face warmed. “I didn’t know. I apologise.”
“It’s fine,” he assured her. “It’s a new skill, it’s hard to stop looking once you know how. Just… when we get there, try not to react to what you see.”
She nodded. “That’s going to be hard, if I keep seeing things I don’t like.”
Ankari smiled, and Rielle was surprised to see approval in the woman’s gaze.
“I’m sure there were parts of the culture you last lived in, even parts of your own culture, that you didn’t like and couldn’t do anything to fix,” she said, Rielle reading her meaning in Baluka’s mind. “I’m also sure you learned to hide your dislike for the sake of avoiding insult and conflict. Whether you notice with your eyes or mind, that same sense of manners or self-preservation applies in all worlds.”